Secret Of Affiliate Marketing

I tell you “affiliate marketing” can sometime be like a puzzle. I mean some companies I’m not that familiar. Like StudioPress for instance. They are associated with ShareASale as a “merchant.” And unlike ClickBank where you can easily find your affliate link to put in your blog post, companies like ShareASale and/or Commission Junction works differently. VistaPrint (the printing company I use to print my business cards and magnets) for instance, they used Commission Junction for their affiliate marketer and still this is a huge PUZZLE for me. I haven’t figured out my affiliate link from them yet. Sometimes it can be a headache. “But…all I wanted to do is promote their product and get paid for it, why is it so hard to figure this out?” I always say to myself.

What does it take to be successful in Affiliate Marketing? It might sounds so easy but it’s not really that easy. It takes knowledge and research to really find out if this is a great product to sell. The best thing to do is buy it yourself and try it. See if their product is what they say “what it really is.” For me, I don’t really promote products that I’m not familiar with. I only promote the ones I used myself on my blog. This way there is no B.S. and I’m telling the honest truth.

“Build an online business around these topics and you’ll always have a target market of individuals who want to buy what you’re offering.” -Steve Scott

But before we go any further I’d like to share with you the 3 Top Affiliates:

I know ClickBank. But Commission Junction and Amazon Associates are pretty new for me. I’ve registered myself to both of them but still haven’t got myself around into associating with Commission Junction and Amazon Associates. I heard that Amazon are great place to sell your eBooks. If you wrote something worth selling don’t forget Amazon Associates.

EDIT: In addition to the 3 affiliates above I’ve learned from Steve Scott these two places:

Like I said in the past, Paid Social Media Jobs are the ones who made me start blogging. From being a member here, I’ve learned that if you choose a product in ClickBank for instance, make sure that the “gravity” is higher. The conversion sale might be higher but if the gravity is low, better not choose the product. Also, reoccuring products like AWeber for instance…that starts their trial membership @ $1 then rolls over to a regular month payment are the best product to sell. Specially if they have good reputation and the product is very good.

lynda.com is another product I want to sell but they turned me down there. They said I have to be affiliated with Google Affiliate first. So I guess, there are so many steps I have to do before I get approved. I tell ya they are like puzzle to me sometimes. You have to connect these pieces in order to work. Such-and-such is connected with this company. And if you didn’t do the first step, you are missing out and can turn you down.

I heard products that gives you up to 50%-75% commission are great!!! Also, products that gives you $20 “pay per click” at least are the best ones to include in your blog post.

Make sure the product is related to your blog post. If you didn’t buy the product before you promote it, make sure you do your research very well. Coz your costumers are going to ask you. And you better back up your answers with a good research! The WarriorForum is a great place to do your research and ask around if such product is worth buying.

So now you’ve got all these great products to sell, how are you going to sell these? First of all, you have to have a good amount of traffic, right? Just because you have great products to sell doesn’t mean that your followers are going to buy it. It takes TRUST first for them to get persuaded to buy from you. You have to have great content to offer them and the FOCUS is your customer.

What can you do to help solve their problems? The focus is always you trying to HELP your customer. Give them content that can help solve their problems. Like-minded people tend to relate better and more likely to follow because of common interests.

Making money in Affiliate Marketing doesn’t happen overnight. But you can be sure that once it happened there is a good income that you can look forward month after month, year after year. Some people gets very impatient on this and gives up! If this is your attitude you better not start in affiliate marketing. This is not the “get-rich-quick” scheme. It takes more than just slapping the banner on your website or your posts. Customers needs to see this over and over again. And when they are ready to buy that’s when they do it.

Is there really money in Affiliate Marketing? Michael Dunlop, 16-year old young blogger, earns millions in blogging. Well, technically speaking, no one really makes money on just blogging alone. How did he do it? Of course, affiliate marketing and developing his own product. He started at age 15 blogging and retired at age 21. Wow, I wish that was me. LOL!!! So the answer is YES there is money in Affiliate Marketing. You don’t have to work hard but work smart.

So the secret in Affiliate Marketing is develop good relationship with your readers and followers. Choose the right company to affiliate yourself. Study your product. Maybe even give an honest review about it. Concentrate on good contents in your blog and make sure your FOCUS is about helping your customer. It’s not about you but it’s all about your customer!

Comments

Hi Angela,
You just mentioned something so crucial. As bloggers, it’s bad to recommend something you have not tested to your readers. This is not good for you and your readers. In order to avoid recommending thrash and loosing your loyal readers, it’s necessary to have a good knowledge of the product you promote. With this, you can answer questions from your readers and improve your conversion

Clickbank is the best place to earn in terms of commission. You get to get products that pay up to 75% commission. That’s my opinion and experience.

I have earned some commissions on CJ but I’m not so fun of that platform.

Aweber seems to be my most interesting affiliate product at the moment because of its recurring payment and the fact that it’s capable of keeping its subscribers for quite a long time 😉 That ensures long term earnings.Enstine Muki recently posted…How CommentLuv Plugin is Damaging Your SEO!Twitter: enstinemuki

Sorry, I am not fully awake. When I read your comment, I thought you were pointing fingers at me. But not. I have trashed my first comment to you. And let’s start over again. My apology. Guess my heart went flitter flatter when I read your comment, I just said, “Wow…I can’t believe this!”

Anyway, I agree with you. That word “YOU” in the beginning of your paragraph just threw me off there. But like I said, I could not agree with you more. It is dangerous to promote something you have not TESTED yourself. And I’m doing just that. I DO NOT promote any product that I have not bought or tested myself. And if I heard it from a friend and trusted that friend, I will actually ask my readers, “What do you think about this? If you try it lemme know how you like it.” I think it’s better be SAFE than sorry.

Honestly speaking, I have been with Clickbank since November 30, 2012 and I have not got paid from them either. But also my traffic is not as much either. I’m only getting 100 unique visitors a day. Well, what do you expect, I’m pretty new in blogging. But hoping this traffic will increase more in the future. Anyway, despite of….I LOVE ClickBank!!! And the EASE of how to find my affiliate link from them is sooooooo easy. I just love the way they have their set-up there!!! I can see the GRAVITY vs. SALES. And I know which product that will pay more and more likely others to click.

However, Commission Junction and Amazon Associates…I haven’t promoted anything from these affiliates. VistaPrint for instance is using Commission Junction to promote their product, okay? I go to VistaPrint and applied to their affiliate program and AFTER I finished my application they point me to Commission Junction…and VistaPrint have a bunch of banners there and doesn’t have any “affiliate link” I can LINK to my site or RESOURCES and it says there when I click one of their banner “Join Program” and I’m like whaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!? What do you mean “join program” I thought I just filled-up an application and now I dunno what they want from me. So very confusing.

On Amazon Associates…I have registered but haven’t gone thru their site totally. But I heard so much good things about them. I am planning in the future to write an eBook and I heard that AA is a great place to promote your eBook. So they are on my list for sure!!

I LOVE AWEBER!!!!!!!!!!!! I just became affiliated with them; also I’m their customer and I love their Email Newsletter. So EASY to use. So EASY to navigate. I believe in this product and I recommend them to all of my friends, family, and colleague.

Thank you so much, Gladys. Your words to me is like a breath of fresh air. You and me just signed up with AWeber myself. I’m a new customer of AWeber and also I’m their new Affiliate marketer. I signed up for their affiliate program just recently just because I BELIEVE so much about their products and products that have “reoccuring billing” are always GOOD to promote because there is a possible revenue month after month. Also AWeber is an EXCELLENT company with GREAT reputation!!! I just love them.

Thank you so much for commenting Gladys…it’s already Thursday and the week just went by so quick. Today is my husband’s birthday and we’re gonna celebrate it with the family!!! Have a nice weekend.

I realize that Clickbank really takes their time. Since I’m only getting 100 unique visitors per day, this is not enough to converse anything material just yet. I am being patient and I figure this will prolly take a year before they even pay me. Hubby keeps asking me, “So are you making money on that thing yet?” LOL!!!! He’s more impatient than I am. I said, “It takes time…” While sometimes the doubt in me creeps in and then I have to talk to myself again. Well, I just started blogging January. So give it time.

My Friend, Susan, who is a WordPress Designer said to me, the main revenue comes from her main product which is designing website for clients, right. She said she used to have Google Adsense and they have terminated her for no apparent reason. Didn’t give her any reason whatsoever, they just cut her. Zilch. And so she said she replaced it with a banner advertising and that thing is paying more than the Adsense. But, she doesn’t rely on her affiliates very much. Like you, her product is her main revenue.

I am working on this one. Little by little, I am mingling around the “business women” here in Fresno. And really my main product is my graphic/web design. And so that’s more the main TARGET and the “social media marketing” is the sub-niche.

When you said “auto responder” is this the same as “autopilot”? I’ve heard about autopilot so much and it’s SCARY to get into it unless you know programming. Some people have great success on this but this is not cheap to have. A re-occuring billing of $47 a month is huge for me. I cannot afford it. Besides, most people who use autopilot have several blogs (like 100s)…and I don’t.

You too, Joy. I hope you have a great weekend. TGIF. Time to relax for me. 🙂

“Auto-responder” is a program that sends your newsletters etc to your mailing lists – like Aweber. I certainly wouldn’t want a $47 a month bill, so I’m with you on that!

I use Get Response. They offer a free trial. Let me know if you want one, but sounds to me as if you’re happy with Aweber.

You’ve done very well to get to 100 unique visitors a day since January. It’s good your husband takes an interest in your business. You’ll be showing him some good profits soon. I have every confidence.

I think networking with people in Fresno who may want your services is a great idea, and with the free headers you did, you already have a portfolio of web-work. Feel free to use me and my site as a reference any time.

Yes, I’m pretty happy with AWeber. I’m still on a $1 trial basis but looks like I will end up subscribing to this every month. Also, besides being a customer, I’m also an Affiliate Marketer for AWeber. I believe in this product. I love this product. And I know they are an excellent investment.

Thank you, Joy, for saying that. I guess 100 unique visitors a day wasn’t too bad. I must be doing something right. *laughs* And my husband have been supporting me in my business. I know that someday he will see good profits on this. Me too, I have confidence. Thank you for believing in me on this.

Well…Fresno networking is slowly but surely. I already took the first step and I’m planning in meeting more and more people in the future. I thank you so much for all of your support, Joy. It means to me a lot and I appreciate this very much!!

You are doing affiliate marketing justice Angela. You’re explaining a lot of the things about it that so many people don’t quite get. Now it’s changed a lot since I first started, it was much easier then.

I personally don’t like Commission Junction either, I find it so confusing. You still have to be approved to promote their products and that process is confusing. I don’t do a lot of promoting through Amazon either because the commission structure for what I promote is so low it would take me forever to make any money there.

I’ve mostly stuck with Clickbank, JVZoo now and individual products like my hosting, autoresponder service, programs, etc. I mean people will start reaching out to you once you’ve made those connections and ask for your advice and what you recommend. It doesn’t get better then that.

I also definitely agree that you should never promote a products you haven’t personally used. Most product owners are more then willing to let you have it to check it out so there’s definitely no harm in asking. That’s actually how I got started. It worked like a charm.

Thanks for sharing this Angela and I can tell you’re learning a lot from Steve’s course.

So, you have a hard time too on Commission Junction. This affiliate marketer is definitely a mind boggling a huge PUZZLE. VistaPrint approved me but guess I still have to go thru Commission Junction approving me, right? Thanks for sharing your experience. I thought I was the ONLY one. It was making me bananas!! LOL

One of the affiliate I deal with is ShareASale. But I didn’t put it as one of the “Affiliates” there coz those were the ONLY 3 Affiliates that Steve Scott mentioned. Why he didn’t mention ShareASale is beyond me. GENESIS (frame) via StudioPress are merchants for ShareASale. Men…it wasn’t easy!!! I tell ya they made me go thru a lot of things I wasn’t a happy camper!!! But since I am a fan of Genesis and this is what I used on my blog, I believe that I can help a lot of bloggers out there to get PAID WordPress instead of FREE ones. Free ones gets hacked a lot. And so for a serious bloggers like us, paid ones are the only way to go. But men, ShareASale (I believe) works almost like Commission Junction. I had to apply on ShareASale 3X and the 3rd time they DENIED me coz they said I had too many accounts. To make the long story short, I CALLED THEM ON THE PHONE. And told them, I’m nothing but a graphic designer who’s just blogging and I’m NOT promoting any coupons!!! They hate that. Finally, they approved me.

As far as Commission Junction and Amazon Affiliates….I’m still EXPLORING these affiliates and I’m gonna ask Steve Scott later WHY did he just mention these 3 affiliates!!?

BTW, I love ClickBank. They are so EASY to navigate. You can choose the product that you want to promote and which relates to your blog. Their “affliate link” is so EASY to find. I just LOVE them!!!! Commission Junction needs to take lessons from ClickBank how to set-up “affiliate links” for Affiliate Marketer.

Yeah, for bloggers, it is very dangerous to promote something you have never tried. It is best to purchase them yourself. Some other publishers they buy the product, give the product a quick review, then REFUND their money within 30-60 days. I’ve read some in WarriorForum, that’s how they do it. But for me, I don’t really buy the product to review. I don’t have a blog that mainly talks about “product reviews” but I do buy them for my own personal use. I think this is the BEST way to do it.

Thank you sooooo much Adrienne, it always makes me happy to see you!!!! TGiF. And time to relax here on my end. I hope you have a blessed weekend. 🙂

Commission Junction is a nightmare to me so I stay away from that one as much as possible.

Probably the reason Steve didn’t mention ShareASale is because when he created that product I don’t think it was around. A lot of services now are moving over there and that’s kind of what ends up happening. They will be many more affiliate services in the future too.

Clickbank by far is the easiest but they also approve crappy products from time to time too so just because it’s on there doesn’t mean the product is that good. So always take them for a test drive before you put your name behind them. It can come back to bite you big time.

So, ShareASale is pretty brand new. They’re really not that bad. Once StudioPress approved my application, they sent me an email with all of their different banners, with its code IDs, and when its click it goes to ShareASale. And all ShareASale does is APPROVE my application. I don’t have to HUNT the banners in ShareASale coz StudioPress (merchant) sent it direct to me.

Now, I dunno how Commission Junction does it. It’s just too bad coz VistaPrint (the only printer I used for printing my business cards) used CJ to promote themselves. It’s a shame. VistaPrint is a good product. I just wish they used something else besides CJ.

And you’re right, NOT everything on ClickBank are good products. I’m surprise that they even promote that “autopilot” product which a lot of people think it’s a SCAM. So guess, a good research of the product is prolly the safest thing to do before promoting it.

Well I think the secret in making money with affiliate marketing is to first build a solid and trust-based relationship with your audience. With the huge number of people promoting affiliate products online most people will only buy from the people they know and trust or in other words their friends.

I also only promote the products I’ve used extensively and I’m well familiar with their features. And I think it’s important to be as helpful as you can to your audience.

I want to mentioned JVZoo as an affiliate network you might want to check out. I’ve been a member for a couple of months now and it’s been great so far. The commissions you make are transferred instantly into Paypal and I always get an email with the latest featured product that’s on discount.

Well, I could not agree with you more on this one. The reason why it takes time to make money on affiliate marketing is you need to build that network relationship first with your readers and/or fans. TRUST is very hard to come. There are so many SCAM products out there and they even have a beautiful website it’s really hard to tell apart which are the real ones and which are the fake ones!

That’s the BEST ones to promote. The product that you know best. It’s even better if you can subscribe or buy it yourself coz you know the pros and cons that way you’re giving them an honest opinion.

Ah okay, JVZoo…will keep this in mind. Thanks for telling me. I think most affiliates have that OPTION of transferring it to your paypal, your bank, or sending you a real check.

Thank you so much for coming by and for commenting. I really appreicate this very much.

I’m not a fan of Affiliate Marketing but been testing out few with myself, of course for products I’m confident enough to recommend 🙂 There are lot of ways to earn now.

Nowadays we tend to move our eyes away from advertisements, so we need to take time and test out what works best for our audience 🙂 That’s where lists can do a lot for you too. Adrienne has a very good knowledge about that.

Some products and services maintain affiliates without being partnered with a merchant too 🙂 For example, GoDaddy, HostGator etc. Some bloggers earn $200 per day through affiliate marketing and as you implied, it doesn’t happen overnight either 🙂

That’s true. I don’t want my blog bombarded with advertisements either. And so I only promote the stuff that I personally used on my blog. Hostgator has very good “affiliate links” for affiliate partners, I’m one of them. I just love it when I come there I find the banners that I like and my affiliate links shows right away.

Companies such as Commission Junction, Amazon Associates, ClickBank, ShareASale can sometime become a headache associating yourself there. Except ClickBank…they have a pretty EASY set-up and not too confusing at all. The only product I promote from ClickBank is “Paid Social Media Jobs” coz that’s where I learned blogging, where to host my blog, and which company I should register it. They’re the one who trained me. And so I give them credit for that.

Anyway, Affiliate Marketing is ONE way to make extra money but the best one to promote is really your OWN product such as: graphic designs, web designs. social media management is only the sub-niche of mine and so really…my main product is graphic design and that’s where I’m gonna rely my revenue 90% of the time. Anyhoo, thanks for commenting Mayura. Have a nice week!!!

I am most familiar with Commission Junction and have found their system to be fairly easy to use. I don’t know if they have been around the longest but they have been around for quite a while. I think it is important to make sure you know the products that you are promoting. Most of us can’t afford to buy every product that comes along but many products offer a trial period. You can test the product before you recommend it on your blog.

Perhaps you can do a “guest post” about Commission Junction on my blog? LOL!!! Seriously, I am having a hard time on CJ and the only product I want to promote from CJ is—VistaPrint. I’m not sure if I’m a true Affiliate Marketer but I only promote the ones I buy and used. Some ofther people buy it to TRY and then return the product just to see how it goes…I don’t think I have that much time to do that. Buy them…then return them…I mean if someone is giving a “product review” I’d say go ahead and do it…but for me, affiliate marketing is only a small PORTION in my business.

Anyway, I am planning in having a “guest poster” on my blog maybe ONCE a month? Will you give us a TOUR on how to register and get approved on Commission Junction?

I have blacklisted you but then I have restored you back. Or else you won’t be able to comment now. You see, I was just about to make a comment on your blog when suddenly…just my curiosity, I have checked your previous posts. And from checking your previous posts, I saw ALL of your comments are “faceless commentators.”

Me and my friends have discussed about this issue in the past. In fact, a friend wrote on his blog that faceless commentators are BAD for your blog. And if they see you have a lot of faceless commentators, some of the bloggers will NOT leave you a comment just because of that. They’d think you’re one of the spammers also.

Google can get you blacklisted or banned for that reason. I thought I’d tell you this so you know. It’s up to you whether you delete these comments and start over or what. And establish “network relationship” with REAL bloggers and not BOTS.

Anyway…when I read some of your comments, these are the SAME spammers who left me the same EXACT comments on my very first blog then @ Health Matters. I’ve got spammed like 2,700 comments in 3 days! I thought I was doing very good THEN but little did I know these are NOT real people but bots.

Anyway, I have asked some of my friends about you and one said that you are from India and that you are NOT a spammer. So…please accept my apology. I have restored you.

Please make a comment again and introduce yourself here: angelamccall.com/promote-yourself

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